CITY HALL — Voter turnout in Tuesday’s election was about 21.6%, with the frontrunner in the City Council race, Rafi Manoukian, taking 22 of the 57 precincts and a formidable lead that could push one of two incumbents — either Dave Weaver or John Drayman — out of office. The city clerk’s office on Wednesday reported that 3,153 provisional and vote-by-mail ballots still need to be counted. With just 162 votes separating Manoukian and Drayman, whose vote total currently places him in third place, the outcome for the two available seats on the City Council is likely to remain unclear for days.

GLENDALE ? Business was slow at many of the city's designated polling spots Tuesday for the primary election, but that didn't come as a big surprise to election officials. "I believe it's going to be low, the primaries usually are," Devonne Peterson, a voting inspector at Bright Cleaners on North Pacific Avenue, said of the turnout. This was the first time the cleaners was host to a polling place, business owner Sung Chung said. "I'm a citizen, that's why I wanted to do it," she said.

All six candidates joined the Crescenta Valley Town Council Saturday, with about 1.4% of the voting population casting a ballot. Voter turnout tends to be low for the advisory board to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, with greater participation occurring when a controversial issue arises or more candidates run for the 12-member body, council members and candidates said. “I wish we had more people running. I wish we had 10 or 14 candidates. I think that in itself would bring out a lot more people,” said Robbyn Battles, an incumbent who won reelection Saturday.

GLENDALE — Of the 95,351 registered voters in Glendale, 21,843 — 22.9% — voted in last week's municipal election, with strongest turnout in the East and North of the city. Statistics for the City Council, Glendale Community College Board of Trustees and Glendale Unified School District Board of Education races come from 50 city precincts and 1 precinct of absentee votes, with the school board and college board also drawing votes from six county precincts. There are also still more than 2,000 votes yet to be counted by the City Clerk's office.

Why people choose to show up to the polls — or choose not to — is almost as varied as the people themselves. Some can’t find the time, some don’t like any of the choices, and others just don’t care. The recent nastiness in the 43rd Assembly special election certainly did not help things, and I predict that the blizzard of mud sure to come as the next round of balloting approaches in June will only depress turnout further. But, I will admit, voter apathy is talked about so often and so frequently that many people just tune it out. A different idea is needed.

LA CRESCENTA — By the time the midnight filing deadline passed Sunday, 10 candidates had filed to run for the Crescenta Valley Town Council in a race that council members predict will turn out a record number of voters. Among the candidates are four incumbents — Council President Grace Andrus, Councilman Charles Beatty and alternate members Frank Beyt and Dennis van Bremen — and six newcomers. The challengers include Todd Thornbury, owner of American Softub Co.; E. Bonnie Marshall-Creel, an attorney; Cheryl Davis, a law firm office administrator; Susan Kilpatrick, a substitute teacher; Susan Fighera, a retired union representative; and Elizabeth Arnold, former president of the Verdugo Hills Hospital Women’s Council and president of the Glendale Council PTA. The Town Council is a nonprofit board that serves as an advisory board to Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich.

80Even though Scott Solis is an alternate on the Crescenta Valley Town Council, he is often a leading voice of dissention. When he was elected as an alternate three years ago, Solis, a self-described atheist who was raised Jewish, was offended by the council's sectarian invocations at the beginning of each meeting. The invocations haven't stopped, but the council members no longer pray to a specific deity. Solis, who lives in La Crescenta with his wife and two children, saw the town council as an avenue to address his concerns about the community's schools.

I am having real problem with the ballot for the Nov. 7 election. I do not read the political junk mail delivered to my residence, I round file it. I do not like candidates that are beholden to political contributors or organizations. Who do I vote for if I believe neither candidate is qualified? This is why we have low voter turnout at the polls. I have an idea that will guarantee a high voter turnout at every election. If we had the candidate "none of the above" on the ballot for each seat, and if it wins the seat stays vacant for the term, we would be given a real choice on the ballot.

In the first general election since redistricting took effect, many residents found themselves faced with unfamiliar names when they went to cast their ballots Tuesday. Voters found it isn't always as easy as asking a neighbor about the candidates -- with the exception of La Canada Flintridge, all of which falls into the 44th Assembly District, local communities found themselves divided by the redistricting process. In the Assembly alone, area voters are split into several districts: All but 6% of voters in Glendale fall into the 43rd District, with the remainder in the 38th District along with 7% of residents in the unincorporated areas of Montrose and La Crescenta.

Josh Kleinbaum While the city's Charter Review Study Committee decided not to recommend any significant changes to the city's basic form of government or elections process, the committee still has some information and tips for the City Council. The 15-person committee spent nearly five months examining elections and forms of government before coming to the conclusion that the city's council-manager system works well. But during those discussions, the committee discussed some changes -- ones that do not have to be made at the charter level -- that could increase voter turnout in future city elections.

It was the changing of the guard - Parcher Plaza at Glendale City Hall filled with people celebrating Mayor Frank Quintero with taquitos and cupcakes, a gathering of well-wishers that included Burbank Mayor Dave Golonski, who offered a framed memento in tribute. The irony was hard to miss. Quintero was retiring quietly, much as he had served the public for 12 years; Golonski was going out with something of a roar, essentially fired by voters just two days earlier in a runoff election after 20 years of serving his city.

At the Montrose Verdugo Chamber of Commerce candidate forum, I was disappointed that my opponent, Stephanie Landregan, concluded her remarks with irresponsible and blatantly false statements. Landregan rescinded her comments the very next day, telling the Glendale News-Press that she “misspoke at the forum.” While I am pleased that Landregan rescinded her comments, I am disappointed that she would resort to making uninformed public statements based on misinformation in an effort to bolster her candidacy.

All six candidates joined the Crescenta Valley Town Council Saturday, with about 1.4% of the voting population casting a ballot. Voter turnout tends to be low for the advisory board to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, with greater participation occurring when a controversial issue arises or more candidates run for the 12-member body, council members and candidates said. “I wish we had more people running. I wish we had 10 or 14 candidates. I think that in itself would bring out a lot more people,” said Robbyn Battles, an incumbent who won reelection Saturday.

In the April 8th Glendale News-Press article, “Measure S supporters celebrate, look to future,” the article incorrectly states that “the union spent more than $40,000 criticizing the bond and championing school board candidates.” The Glendale Teachers Assn. did not spend one cent in an effort to defeat the bond measure. All the political action committee money went exclusively toward efforts in electing our recommended candidates for school board. I was not available for comment after the election as I was in Mexico during spring break.

While the elections are past us in Glendale, some of the impact from the campaigns will linger. In the last several election cycles, there has been a trend in Glendale politics that is very disturbing, especially regarding the City Council races. This trend has been driven by those attempting to maintain the status quo through a destructive strategy of fear-mongering to influence voters. In this election, we heard a rallying cry that “special interests” are conspiring to take over Glendale.

CITY HALL — Voter turnout in Tuesday’s election was about 21.6%, with the frontrunner in the City Council race, Rafi Manoukian, taking 22 of the 57 precincts and a formidable lead that could push one of two incumbents — either Dave Weaver or John Drayman — out of office. The city clerk’s office on Wednesday reported that 3,153 provisional and vote-by-mail ballots still need to be counted. With just 162 votes separating Manoukian and Drayman, whose vote total currently places him in third place, the outcome for the two available seats on the City Council is likely to remain unclear for days.

In the scandal-ridden city of Bell, barely a third of voters recently turned out at the polls to throw out the officials who allegedly looted the treasury. That was nearly three times the percentage that cast ballots in the March 8 Los Angeles municipal election, in which six City Council members were returned to office despite widespread discontent over closed libraries, parks and fire stations, soaring utility rates and a worsening budget crisis. Only 14.3% of registered voters could bother to participate in Burbank’s recent primary election and the turnout will surely be lower for the runoff between Emily Gable-Luddy and Bob Frutos on April 12. Glendale turnout rarely goes much above 20% and that is likely what will occur at the city elections on April 5. Even in presidential elections, one in five of those registered in California doesn’t vote, and one in four eligible voters don’t even care enough to register.

Why people choose to show up to the polls — or choose not to — is almost as varied as the people themselves. Some can’t find the time, some don’t like any of the choices, and others just don’t care. The recent nastiness in the 43rd Assembly special election certainly did not help things, and I predict that the blizzard of mud sure to come as the next round of balloting approaches in June will only depress turnout further. But, I will admit, voter apathy is talked about so often and so frequently that many people just tune it out. A different idea is needed.

To the victors go the spoils, and in that vein, truth is spoiled right along any claims on how victory was achieved. (“Messages are revealed in voter results,” April 9) Even if we ignore the huge absentee-voter-coaching effort by the Armenian National Committee, the ads from the Glendale Police Officers Assn., and an anti-Bruce Philpott effort by the Glendale News-Press and the Glendale Fire Fighters Assn., something is missing. The News-Press cannot reasonably deduce what the true voter message was from those efforts.

GLENDALE — Voters across Glendale and Burbank helped the two cities march toward record voter turnout Nov. 4, when residents also weighed in with great enthusiasm on the state’s ballot measures. The final figures, released Monday from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office, show high voter turnout and a clear Democratic shift in Glendale, officials said. In Glendale, voter turnout was higher than it’s been in at least eight years, with 61.8% of voters casting a ballot Nov. 4 versus 48.9% in 2000.